[Geysers] Geyser Report 6/5 (Stephens)

[Lynn Stephens]

THIS POST IS FOR THE PERSONAL USE OF THE SUBSCRIBERS TO THIS LISTSERV AND IS NOT TO BE
REPRODUCED FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE, INCLUDINIG PUBLICATION IN THE SPUT.
 
I don't have much to add to what Scott will post.  I spent several hours in the office today, and now have the 2009 logbook through February 28 transcribed.  
 
I did go out for this morning's eruption of Till (07:40, double I = 18h14m), and caught this afternoon's eruption (16:39, I = 8h59m).
 
We saw two coyotes, one slowly trotting across the runoff area around the Chain Lakes, the other attempting to cross the bridge at F&M, but unwilling to do so with a group of 5 gazers, 3 of whom were on bikes, standing there at the end of the bridge.  When I went down to the Delaware North Basin Store parking lot for lunch, Jim S. pointed out a coyote out toward Castle, and said that coyote has no fear of humans whatsoever.
 
I checked myself out of the Geology Office at 1245, biked down to the Delaware North Basin Store parking lot (A couple days ago I said Lower Ham's parking lot and was thoroughly chastised for not using current terminology.  From now on, I'm just going to abbreviate it DNBSPL.)  As I was standing there talking with Jim, I said, "There's the Indicator."  As I was reaching for my radio, someone standing there in front of Beehive gave the call for the Indicator.  
 
For 40 or so minutes after Beehive, several of us were standing around thinking "it's too early for ..." (fill-in the blank depending on that particular gazer's favorite geyser or activity).  Although I thought it was too early for Great Fountain, I finally headed that direction.  As I neared the parking lot for Mallard Creek Trailhead, I saw an osprey fly across the road, flipping the fish it was carrying to the fish would be head first.  I still haven't seen an osprey actually catch a fish yet.  I pulled into the Mallard Creek Trailhead parking lot to watch the osprey flying.  It landed in a treetop for awhile, then took off again.  When it took off, it was mobbed by 6 small dark colored birds.  I watched the aerial dogfight for awhile before loosing the osprey in the distance.  There is an osprey nest off to the east of the parking lot, which a fisherman from Cody with whom I was talking who comes here frequently had never noticed before even though he's seen the osprey every year for many years.
 
The rainstorms diminished long enough for Great Fountain's first burst, which had two intense blue bubbles.  Andy and Jane Washington arrived today just in time for Great Fountain.  Jane said she recognized me from the faded blue hat I was wearing, which I've had for several years now, although I do sometimes alternate it with a straw hat, a lacy white hat, a red hat, and a pink hat.  
 
Overheard while at Great Fountain this afternoon:
 
     White Dome durations--About a minute into the eruption, "It will last another 3, 4, 5 minutes, whatever it feels like."  Every year I time a few eruptions while I'm actually sitting at White Dome, and my data consistently has shown about 2-1/2 minute durations.  I guess I just haven't been there enough!

 

In yesterday's report I mentioned overhearing someone say that Great Fountain's overflow lasts 1-1/2 to 2 hours.  Today I was asked a question about this season's overflows.  Looking through my logbook, the shortest has been 71 minutes, the longest 90 minutes, but I'm sure there are longer ones comin'.

 

Today some of us were discussing Riverside intervals.  Just a supplement to Ralph Taylor's excellent summary of 2009 activity to date (my analysis generated using Ralph Taylor's analysis of the temperature data, eruption times, and eruption intervals--Thank you Ralph):

 

Intervals--                  n                  % 

Less than 5h40m          1                  0%

5:30-5:39                   0                  0%

5:40-5:49                    20               4.6%

5:50-5:59                  136              31.1%

6:00-6:09                  170              38.9%

6:10-6:13 [not a typo]  15                3.4%

6:25-6:29 [not a typo]   9                 2.1%

6:30-6:39                   51               11.7%

6:40-6:49                   31                7.1%

6:50-6:55                    4                 1.0%

 

               Total         437   

 

As Ralph notes on the gosa website, there is a gap with no intervals between 6:14 and 6:24.  This gap has been used to separate the "short" intervals (78.1% of total intervals) from the "long" intervals (21.9% of total intervals).  

 

Also overhead recently:  "The 2002 Alaska Quake affected Grand Geyser."  In his article in the December 2002 Sput, Ralph Taylor stated "Analys of the data logger temperature data showed that Old Faithful, Grand, Rift, West Triplet, and North Goggles did NOT show noticeable changes in activity during the two weeks following the quake.  Daisy Geyser showed unmistakable changes, shortening its interval by nearly an hour.  Castle reacted by lengthening its intervals for at least a week.  Changes in Lion and Plume were less definite."

 

One article summarized the findings that were reported by Husen, Taylor, Smith and Heasler in Geology, June 2004:

 

Yellowstone has more than 10,000 geysers, hot springs and fumaroles (steam vents), and scientists monitored how often 22 of the geysers erupted during the winter of 2002-2003. Eight of the 22 “displayed notable changes in their eruption intervals” after the Denali quake, 10 showed no significant changes and the other four were too erratic in the timing of their eruptions to determine if the quake changed them, the researchers wrote. Of the eight that changed:

-- Geysers that erupted more frequently following the Denali quake included Daisy, Depression, Plume and Riverside geysers in Upper Geyser Basin, and Pink Geyser in Lower Geyser Basin.

-- Geysers that erupted less frequently after the Denali quake included Castle and Plate geysers in Upper Geyser Basin and Lone Pine Geyser in West Thumb Geyser Basin.

Most geysers returned to their normal timing days to months after the Denali quake.

Oddly, geysers affected by earlier nearby earthquakes – most notably Old Faithful and Grand Geyser in Upper Geyser Basin – were not affected by the Denali earthquake.

 

Lynn Stephens

 

 

 

 


 
 


_________________________________________________________________
Lauren found her dream laptop. Find the PC that’s right for you.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/choosepc/?ocid=ftp_val_wl_290
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: </geyser-list/attachments/20090605/cc077557/attachment.html>